Barbara Shea, Lower School Principal
The Lower School Library is a hub of activity where students regularly seek books for pleasure reading and find resources for topics that are being studied in their classrooms. Ms. Love engages students in a love of reading through books and authors that spark their imaginations and reignite the value of storytelling. At the same time, she also teaches students how to find a specific book or how to develop research skills. In addition to her own curricular scope and sequence, Ms. Love works closely with the classroom teachers, and her lessons enhance their units across the subjects.
In today's world, a key piece of Ms. Love's role is also helping students to navigate the technology tools necessary in gaining and imparting information. This means that students learn to find books using our online catalog program and participate in the use of various applications, such as Kahoot or Nearpod, to enhance the class discussion. The students enjoy responding to questions on their iPads and seeing their cumulative answers displayed on the SMARTBoard almost instantaneously: a perfect way to heighten the discussion! In another instance, students used their iPads to create their own book ads, which are currently displayed in the library.
As a member of the school-wide Technology Committee, Ms. Love also has begun teaching classes on digital citizenship to third and fourth grade students. Students enthusiastically gravitate to technology tools; our responsibility is to teach them practices that will inform their decisions in using them safely and responsibly. Students must understand the importance of making good decisions in their use. While this topic is covered in their homerooms and in computer class, Ms. Love has also created a comprehensive unit that is divided into four specific topics: Copyright, Digital Footprint, Cyberbullying, and Website Ads. There is no such thing as too much information in this area!
Every two months, third and fourth grade students will have a class devoted to each of these subjects. To prime the students for what they would learn, in September Ms. Love posted clever cartoons where students could see them regularly – on the bathroom stall doors! Two examples of these cartoons that sparked immediate conversations:
There was also an interactive bulletin board by the Nurse's office.
By the time the students walked into class, they had seen a variety of images on the topic, and a foundation for the lesson had been laid. I observed Ms. Love's class on copyright and saw what might be a dry subject come to life with the students. The lesson began with a poster board illustrating what it means to be a good digital citizen and having the students discuss words such as cyberbullying, copyright, and creative credit. The focus of the lesson was clearly stated: the importance of knowing how to give creative credit and the ability to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate use of materials. Before Ms. Love could get further, one of the first student questions was, "Why are you teaching this, Ms. Love?" This was a perfect segue into the role of librarians today. In the past, one went to the library for information solely from books, but today we can get that same information (and more!) from the computers in the library. In essence, the librarians' role has not changed, but the tools/resources have.
With the help of a few fourth grade actors, Ms. Love created storyboards with real students to convey two scenarios – the correct way to give credit for information gleaned from the Internet and the incorrect way. After discussing both storyboards in their small groups, the students shared their thoughts. These were not easy to determine, but the conversation was rich in the students' ability to identify the various steps necessary in giving the proper creative credit and the storyboard characters who did not! Throughout the lesson, there were layers of information that flowed from the teacher and from the students. Some students have a great deal that they do know about plagiarism, and they understand the importance of handing in work that reflects their abilities. Humor is a great way to appeal to students! Seeing their classmates acting out new roles was refreshing to them, and they were engaged throughout the lesson!
Today there are easier ways to create citations, and students learned about Citation Machine, an app that helps students create the proper form when including sources and footnotes. They also experimented with a site, Photosforclass, to access photos and have the citation embedded in the picture. These pictures are perfect to include in a paper without having to add their sources. The class collection of iPads is wonderful in allowing all students to investigate and try out these apps.
The next topic is "Digital Footprint." When children are in the Lower School, parents have much more control over their child's digital footprint than the child through the many photos posted on social media. However, soon children will be posting their own photos. In order to help parents in teaching their children how to do so responsibly, Ms. Love provides a tip sheet with advice for parents from Common Sense Media, and I hope that you find this information helpful.